I'm Just A Bill

By Chris Olson, Outreach Coordinator

Mikaila did a great job of laying out the four Environmental Priorities for 2009. I am excited to be a part of Earth Ministry's advocacy efforts this year, but I still have a lot to learn about the legislative process. I would like to run through a quick step-by-step of how a bill becomes a law in an effort to educate myself and remind others of the process as well. Some of you may have fond memories of the old School House Rock video "I'm Just a Bill" which also walked through these steps in a more musical fashion. Click on the picture of "Bill" or this link to watch the video of this TV classic.

I compiled the information here from two publications created by the Washington State Legislature's office.

How A Bill Becomes A Law

1. A bill may be introduced in either the Senate or House of Representatives. The procedure by which a bill becomes a law is much the same, wherever the bill originates. For our purposes, we will say the bill was introduced in the Senate.
   
2. A committee studies the bill and often holds public hearings on it. The committee will then meet to consider the information it has gathered.
3. The committee is now ready to report back to the Senate. If the majority is in favor of the bill the chairman recommends the bill for passage. The committee report is read in open session of the Senate, and the bill is then referred to the Rules Committee.
4. The Rules Committee can either place the bill on the second reading calendar for debate before the entire body, or take no action.
5. At the second reading a bill is subject to debate and amendment before being placed on the third reading calendar for final passage. Depending upon the degree of controversy, debate may last a few minutes to several hours--or even several days.
6. After passing in the Senate, the bill will go through an almost identical procedure in the House.
7. If the bill is passed by the house, but is amended, the Senate must concur in the amendments.
8. When the bill is accepted in both houses, it is signed by the respective leaders and sent to the Governor.
9. The Governor signs the bill into law or may veto all or part of it. The Legislature can override the veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses. That's how a bill becomes a law!

We hope to see all of you at the Legislative Workshop on January 10th, Environmental Lobby Day on February 19th, and Faith Advocacy Day on March 17th. For more information about these three critically important days please visit Earth Ministry's website www.earthministry.org.

Happy 2009!

Merry Christmas from Earth Ministry

by LeeAnne Beres

For the past week and a half, Seattle has been covered in a blanket of white. This is the longest stretch of snow that I can remember in eighteen years of living here, and I have to admit I like it. Seattle is woefully unprepared for this much snow, and much of the city has ground to a halt.
Instead of fighting it, I embrace it.

The snow has forced us all to stop, to pause in the mad dash up to Christmas. Streets in my hilly neighborhood are impassable and bus lines are disrupted. All of my carefully laid plans of the last week have also been disrupted. Last minute shopping, several social gatherings, and even my mother’s planned visit over the holidays have all fallen by the wayside due to the inclement weather.

Yet there are blessings to discover in the snow that uncover the true meaning of Christmas. Streets closed to cars mean that I’ve seen more people out walking in my neighborhood this week than during the sunny month of July. People are pulling together and looking out for one another. The sense of community is palpable – friends are loaning snow shovels, neighbors are checking in on seniors, parents are watching kids sled down closed streets, and strangers are helping to push cars stuck in the snow.

It is this sense of community that lies at the heart of Christmas and reminds us that people, not presents, are what really matter. As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth, we also remember His last command to the disciples – to love one another. We may not always be called to do so in ways we expect. I expected to spend the week with close friends and family, but instead I’ve grown closer to my neighbors and have shared Christ’s love with strangers. What a wonderful Christmas gift.

From all of us at Earth Ministry, I wish you a joyful and blessed Christmas. May you rejoice in the light and love of Christ within you and share it freely with others.

Merry Christmas!

Introducing the 2009 Environmental Priorities

By Mikaila Gawryn
Earth Ministry Outreach Associate


This year Earth Ministry and 23 other environmental organizations from around the state of Washington will join together to advocate for the environment! As the legislative session draws closer we are preparing for an important season of democracy in action.

Since 2003 the Environmental Priorities Coalition has identified and tackled the most pressing environmental issues in the Evergreen State. By working together these groups are able to create large-scale change in the capitol while continuing their work in specific environmental areas around Washington.

Over the last four years Earth Ministry's membership in the coalition has been central in demonstrating the leadership of people of faith. We take Creation Care seriously. In fact, our representatives and fellow citizens now realize that we take it seriously enough to engage in the legislative process.

This year we have four vital priorities and we want your help to pass them!

Priorities 2009

Cap and Invest
By implementing real limits on global warming pollution, we will create new jobs and stimulate the growth of a clean energy economy here in Washington State.

Efficiency First
Promoting energy efficient homes, businesses and public institutions will save money, enhance energy security, and significantly reduce global-warming pollution.

Transit-Oriented Communities
Washingtonians want to live in affordable, walkable and transit oriented communities. This priority would revise the state's transportation and land-use planning framework to assist local jurisdictions to plan for growth in a sustainable and climate-friendly way.

Invest in Clean Water
From Puget Sound to the Spokane River, clean water is Washington's lifeblood and our communities can't thrive without it. This package of targeted polluter-pays fees will protect the taxpaying public and ensure that polluters take responsibility for the impacts of their actions.

How Can I Help?

Attend our January 10th Legislative Workshop- Learn more about the four priorities and how to talk to your representatives about the importance of climate protection. Make new friends and join long-time ones in this ongoing and important work.

Mark your calendar for Environmental Priorities Lobby Day on February 19th! Join Earth Ministry members and hundreds of other citizens and have your voice heard! Travel to Olympia to speak to your representatives about what matters most. Register here.

Grab the hot-lists - Each week throughout the legislative session the environmental community provides a list of ten (or fewer) highest priority issues being decided upon. A title and quick synopsis gives you an idea of what the issue is, and the position tells you how the Coalition advocates that representatives act. Just grab the list and start calling!

Check out the Environmental Priorities Coalition - Find tips for meeting with your elected official, writing letters to the editor and and information on past priorities with updates.
Find this and more at the Environmental Priorities website.

Watching and Waiting

The season of Advent is a time for attentiveness. It is a season to spend extra time with friends and family, noticing that a calendar year is almost over, and recalling the memories of the past months.

Advent is also a time of looking ahead—not in an impatient, can’t-wait-for-the-next-thing-to-happen kind of way, but in a thoughtful and reflective manner. There are many teachers, many places to look for advice on how to move forward…and many distractions along the way.

In the spirit of this season I’d like to share a few words from a Celtic Advent hymn:

O Wisdom,
You come forth from the mouth of the Most High.
You fill the universe and hold all things together
in a strong yet gentle manner.
O come to teach us the way of truth.

O come, O come, Thou wisdom from above;
the universe sustaining with Thy love.

Let us look to all the beings of the universe for wisdom as we gaze forward to the blessings and challenges of a new year!

Prayer found in Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community.

A Holiday Season to Remember

By Chris Olson, Outreach Coordinator

I like to eat. In fact I love to eat. You could go so far as to saying that eating is one of my favorite activities. Over the last four months I have rediscovered my love of hearty and delicious meals and realized what a true privilege it is to have a bounty of food in the kitchen cupboards. The Lutheran Volunteer Corps gives each of us $95 for food that we pool together as a house (there are five of us) to buy groceries for the month. This is, in fact, plenty of money to get us through the month nourished and healthy. BUT...and this is a big but for me....I find that I do not have the plethora of food choices that I have had at all other times in my life, nor the general abundance of household food that, previous to LVC, I took for granted. We live on a limited budget which means that we need to get the basics, make sure that we have enough for supper each night, and maybe one extra "luxury" item each week. There aren't many snacks, leftovers, or taste enhancers in our house.

At first it was a struggle for me, especially since my housemates are vegetarians so we do not buy meat (a choice that I wholeheartedly support, although every once in awhile I get a craving for a turkey sandwich!). As the months pass by, however, I am learning to adapt and adjust to the food situation. The new limits have also allowed me space to become thankful for the food I do receive.

Thanksgiving held new meaning for me this year. My housemates and I were invited to the house of a former LVC member to share the day with her and a number of her friends. It was a potluck meal and as I stood in front of the kitchen counter I found myself thinking how thankful, absolutely thankful I was for all the food that was in front of me. It was a shared meal made from the wonderful generosity of 18 different people. I ate my fill that evening and savored every single bite.

Its not often that we are made to face the privilege and prosperity that so many of us blindly grow up with in the United States. For me, food has always been one of those things I have not had to think about. I always had the means to buy whatever I wanted at the grocery store, but for billions of people around the world that is not the case. As I said before we are in no way starving at our LVC house and I do not mean to compare our situation to the truly dire situations of many, but just that LVC is giving me the chance to step back, to think about my place in our global food system. How I eat and what I eat is intimately and ultimately linked with planetary social and environmental justice issues. There is something powerful in living out a way of life that is different from your own. For me, LVC is giving me a clearer understanding of many issues just by placing me in situations that were foreign to me until now. As I think back to my excited anticipation for my Thanksgiving meal and look forward to the many shared meals with family and friends over my Christmas break, I know I will be ever more grateful for the gifts I am given and that this will be a holiday season I won't forget.

Winter Sowing

by Deanna Matzen

Advent is a season of waiting in expectation for the coming birth of Jesus Christ. This weekend I started another season of waiting in expectation...for my spring vegetable garden.

I recently learned about winter sowing from my mother, who learned about it from some friends and enthusiastically shared the method with me. Perhaps she was tired of listening to me whine about how poorly my seeds did when I tried to start them indoors - the seeds grew but were always much smaller than the seedlings you can buy at the store and it seemed like my garden was perpetually behind everyone else's. I'm sure that if I invested in the right technology, growing lamps, warming bases, all that good stuff, that they would do much better. But if I can start seeds outside and let mother nature do the work...that's my kind of gardening!

So what is winter sowing? It's a simple and cost effective germination method to start seedlings. All you have to do is make a mini-greenhouse (perferably with reused container), make sure it has holes for rain to come in and go out, and fill it with the right kind of seeds. As winter transitions into spring and the weather warms, the seeds will germinate when the time is right. Before long the seedlings will be cold hardened and ready for transplant. So simple!

Container

You can use almost any kind of container, but please try to reuse one that can't be recycled or you already have on hand. My mother suggested those large plastic containers that fruits and vegetables come in (like grapes purchased from Costco) or an old milk jug, etc.

If it doesn't already have holes, make some of your own - on the top to let the rain in and on the bottom to let it out. If you use a cardboard container, just make sure to enclose it in a plastic bag and add slits on top and bottom.

Soil
Any old potting soil will do.

Seeds
This is the tricky part. Not all seeds can be winter sown. Look for these key words:

Needs Pre-chilling (freeze seeds, refrigerate seeds, stratify for x amount of days or weeks), Needs Strarification, Will Colonize, Self Sows, Sow outdoors in early Atuumn, Sow outdoors in early Spring while nights are still cool, Sow outdoors in early Spring while frosts may still occur, Hardy Seeds, Seedlings can withstand frost, Can be direct sown early, Wildflower, Weed (such as butterfly weed, joe pye weed, jewel weed.)

Since I'm a vegetable gardener, here's the list I'm working off of this year:

Allium family (onions, shallots, garlic, chives)
Artichokes (zone seven and warmer)
Beans
Beets
Brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, etc)
Carrots
Celery
Celeriac
Chards
Corn (select an "early" type as it can germinate at lower temps)
Curcubit family (cukes, squash, pumpkins, melons, gourds)
Herbs (edible and ornamental)
Lettuces
Nightshade family (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes - from real seeds....not "seed potatoes" ;-)
Oriental veggies (any)
Parsnip
Peas
Radishes
Spinach

This weekend I started kale, turnips, and leeks - the only seeds I had left from last year - and then ordered more seeds online from Seeds Savers Exchange - four tomato varieties, broccoli, cabbage, and spinach. But you may want to get seeds for free through seed trading.

I hope you will join me in sowing some seeds this winter as a reminder of the expectant waiting of Advent. I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out this spring! For more information on winter sewing, see http://www.wintersown.org/.

Safe Cosmetics News -- Parabens

Thinking about buying a gift of lotion, perfume, makeup, or even soap this holiday season? Before you make your purchase, be sure to do your homework to find out what you’re really giving.

Many personal care products contain questionable ingredients that are unregulated by the FDA. Some of the specific ingredients to look out for are parabens, which are used as preservatives in many cosmetics. Parabens may appear on a product’s label as methylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, ethylparaben, or butylparaben.

Parabens mimic estrogen, and at least one study has shown that parabens “support the growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells grown in tissue culture.” Click here for more information about breast cancer and environmental risk factors from Cornell University’s Sprecher Institute for Comparative Cancer Research.

Take a few minutes to watch this video about preservatives in beauty products which aired recently on KING 5 News.

Or check out "Think Before You Pink" (a project of Breast Cancer Action) for a list of paraben-free cosmetic companies.

To check on the safety of a particular product, you can always use the very informative Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, put together by researchers at the Environmental Working Group.

Give safe and healthy gifts this holiday season, and educate your friends and family about the importance of knowing what’s in their personal care products. Let's care for ALL creation--including our own bodies!

Staying Empowered

By Mikaila Gawryn
Outreach Associate

Learning about environmental issues can be disheartening. I often wonder how people can devote their lives to difficult issues such as poverty or environmental degradation and not end up entirely depressed, unable to act. As I studied at school I found two things empowered me: The first was getting outside and actually taking action on environmental issues, and the second was hearing about other people who were doing the same.

I'd like to share with you one of the most empowering resources I came across in my studies. There are literally thousands of people all over the world working against great odds to protect and restore God's creation. Too often these hard working individuals go unrecognized. Thankfully that is changing. I give you...

The Goldman Environmental Prize

The prize was created by Richard and Rhoda Goldman when they realized that no environmental equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize existed. The prize honors a handful of grassroots environmental leaders around the world every year by awarding each $150,000 toward their work to heal environmental degradation in their own communities.

The prize has historically gone to environmental heroes such as Wangari Maathai of Kenya in 1991 who went on to receive the first Nobel Peace Prize given to an environmentalist in 2004. After receiving the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1996 Marina Silva was named Minister of Environment in Brazil in 2003.

This year's recipients are carrying out ground breaking work. Six environmental champions were chosen from Mexico, Mozambique, Russia, Ecuador, Belgium and Puerto Rico. This group is working on issues as diverse as protection of wetlands to reducing erosion through indigenous soil practices. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce two of this year's recipients.

For years Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and Luis Yanza have been fighting an uphill battle against some of the most powerful and well financed corporations on the planet. Oil exploration, drilling, production and consumption cause long lasting environmental damage to the most delicate ecosystems on the planet. Often the petroleum industry leaves indigenous populations to bear the burden through polluted homes and failing health. The photo to the left shows wildlife from the Ecuadorian Amazon. The following excerpt describes what these two men have done to stand up for the communities and environments at risk in the Amazon region of Ecuador.

Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and Luis Yanza Ecuador

"Fighting for justice after what has been called one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in history, Luis Yanza and Pablo Fajardo are leading in unprecedented community-driven legal battle against a global oil giant. According to the plaintiffs, beginning in 1964 and through 1990, Texaco dumped nearly 17 million gallons of crude oil and 20 billion gallons of drilling waste water directly into the Ecuadorian Amazon. Allegedly suffering from the health affects of the pollution, the region's inhabitants are demanding a complete cleanup in potentially the largest environmental lawsuit ever filed in the world. Yanza co-founded the Amazon Defense Front to organize 30,000 inhabitants of the norther Ecuadorian Amazon in a class-action lawsuit against Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001. The lead lawyer, Pablo Fajardo, a resident of one of the affected communities, has become the public voice of the plaintiffs." The image below shows left over debris from the petroleum industry in the Amazon.

Thank the Lord we have people like Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and Luis Yanza! To learn more about the history of Mendoza and Yanza's case and the role that oil has played in the lives of Ecuadorians living in the Amazon check out the information provided by Amnesty International USA and Oxfam. You can also read more about what the other six Goldman Prize recipients are doing in their home nations.

Pablo Fajardo once said "In this battle I have understood that working for a clean environment today is working towards peace for humanity tomorrow - facing the future. That is what I intend to do." As we celebrate Fajardo and Yanza, we can all make a choice to face the future. With the support of one another taking on hard issues is possible.

Excerpts from http://www.goldmanprize.org/

Shop Less, Give More

By Chris Olson, Outreach Coordinator

Deanna started a great topic. Alternative giving is one of my favorite subjects. The decision to give from the heart instead of from the department store is a change where I feel I have truly made a difference. In terms of individual action blossoming into a larger collective action, this is probably the most influential choice I have ever made. Three years ago I reached a tipping point where I felt overwhelmed as a young person by the pressure to A) buy meaningful gifts for family members while on a limited, student budget and B) come up with lists of things for people to buy me that I didn't actually need or want. The drive to follow the social norms of the holiday season stressed me out, depleted my limited funds, and filled my apartment and the houses of my loved with unnecessary clutter. Something needed to change. That's when I was introduced to the practice of alternative giving by a teacher in an environmental studies class. She had been donating to the Seva Foundation in the name of her family for years. "What a genius idea!", I thought. That semester I did some research and decided that I wanted to donate $50 in the name of the Olson Family to Seva for Christmas.

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more!"
~ from How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

I was nervous going into Christmas night. What if my family thought it was silly? What if they didn't think it was "enough" money for a real gift? I didn't get anyone anything else. Would they feel slighted? Unloved? To be honest, when they opened the single envelop under the tree that read "To the Olson Family, Love Chris" I don't think they knew how to react. A donation in the name of our family to help provide eye exams for impoverished populations in central Asia was not what they expected. I explained what it was I had given them and then about alternative giving. By the end of the evening each of them were excited and enthusiastic about the gift. The next year I donated a hive of honeybees and a flock of chicks to my family through Heifer International. This past year my brother's family gave a gift donation to a wind-power project and my sister's family donated to Heifer. In the next few weeks we are going to talk as a family and decided which organization we would like to donate to this year as an ENTIRE family and forgo all other gifts. This practice has also caught on with my cousins, aunts, and uncles who decided to skip the "stuff" this year and try alternative gifts. Less stress, less hassle, more intentionality, more meaning. Alternative giving has reshaped Christmas at my house and the ripple effect is beginning to shake the branches in the rest of our family "Christmas" tree (ho, ho, ho! Get it!).

Deanna provided a number of ideas of organizations to which to give this holiday season and to that I'm going to add a few more of my favorite:

Heifer International
Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant.

Seva Foundation
Seva (say-va) is a Sanskrit word for service. Working in nine countries in addition to the United States, Seva Foundation supports projects in the area of health and wellness, community development, environmental protection and cultural preservation.

WIDECAST Sea Turtle Conservation in the Caribbean
The WIDECAST Latin American program mission is to improve the conservation status of the marine turtles in Costa Rica, with emphasis on the Caribbean region through research, political lobbying, planning, training, creation of socio-economic alternatives and public awareness.

Grounds for Change
Grounds for Change is a certified organic coffee roaster specializing in 100% Fair Trade Coffee. They roast Organic Fair Trade Coffee that is grown in shade conditions.

Fair Trade Chocolate
Lutheran World Relief supports the Fair Trade cocoa farmers of Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana through its of Divine Chocolate products — the first farmer-owned brand of chocolate in the world.

Other links:
www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com
www.agreatergift.org
http://inspiredgifts.unicefusa.org

37 Shopping Days Left to Christmas

by Deanna Matzen

I can't believe it. We're only a little over a month away from Christmas. I don't know about you, but no matter how early I try to start thinking about buying or making gifts for Christmas, the time always flies too fast. All of a sudden we're just a week before Thanksgiving and it feels like crunch-time.

For years, my husband and I have tried to reframe Christmas and move away from spending a lot of money, with some success. This year, however, with the economic troubles our nation finds itself in, we are more determined than ever to refocus our Christmas mindset. Christmas is not supposed to be about spending tons of money, though Wall Street would like the economic boost. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus. While I understand that giving gifts at Christmas is a visceral reminder of the greatest and most lavish gift we ever received - Jesus - we should also balance gift giving with honoring the other gifts God has given us - creation, time, talents, creativity, etc. So for today's blog, I'd like to pass on some resources and new ideas for holiday gift giving.

Inexpensive, Creative and Eco-Friendly Gift Ideas from the New American Dream.

Waste Free Holidays: Give Experiences instead of Stuff - while this site is specific to the Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area of Washington State, anyone can give gift certificates for experiences instead of stuff.

Buy Nothing Christmas - gift ideas that require little or no purchase.

Hundred Dollar Holiday is Bill McKibben's aria to the end of stuff (based on his book).

And if you still need an idea or two, how about giving a gift membership to an organization that reflects that person's value, like Earth Ministry! Or give the gift of knowledge...a book, whether new or used, would make a great gift. Money & Faith: The Search for Enough is a new addition to the Earth Ministry collection and a very timely one at that. Or how about a regifting Christmas or a thrift store Christmas or a Craigslist Christmas. Who said that gifts have to be brand-spanken new and fresh out of the wrapper to be meaningful?

And finally, I'd like to encourage you to participate in Buy Nothing Day on November 28th. It's a simple stand you can take against consumerism. Afterall, you won't need to buy anything on the day of post-turkey mega-sales because you're simplifying Christmas this year!

Healthy Thanksgiving Choices

by Beth Anderson
Thanksgiving dinner is one of those special times during the year when many of us get together with family or friends to celebrate our connections to one another and to our Creator. I have a few tips to pass along that will help you create a blessed and healthy gathering for your loved ones...


CLEANING PRODUCTS: Whether you’re preparing your house to host a dinner for 20, or simply doing your normal weekly chores, use the safest cleaners possible. Need to remove the crust from inside your oven? Instead of using a hazardous commercial oven cleaner, try applying a paste of baking soda and water and using good
old-fashioned elbow grease to remove the mess.
Click here for more information
about safe and healthy home cleaning solutions.


FOOD: Buy organic and locally-produced items whenever possible. In some cases, that may mean adapting a traditional recipe to include vegetables that are currently in season or paying a bit more for a sustainably-raised turkey.

Here’s a link to a resource for making environmentally-conscious food choices while still staying within your financial means and another link to ideas for a local, organic Thanksgiving.



COOKWARE: This tip requires a long-term commitment, and perhaps a bit of an upfront investment, but this seems like an appropriate time of year to consider switching from Teflon-coated cookware to a less toxic option. Our friends at Washington Toxics Coalition just put together some great information on this topic in the article, “What’s cookin'? Make it safe!” They advise switching from non-stick cookware to glass, stainless steel, or cast iron.

Many blessings for a healthy and holy Thanksgiving holiday!

Yes We Can

By Kevin Raymond


I don’t intend it in anything even remotely approaching a partisan way, but “Yes We Can” just has to be our mantra as we measure our responses to the urgent threat of climate change.

In just the past couple of years, climate change has moved from the province of theory to accepted fact, and what the scientists and our own senses are telling us is happening to the planet is sobering, to say the very least. We can already expect global temperatures to increase for centuries no matter what we do to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. The seasons are changing, sea levels are rising, severe weather events are increasing in their intensity and duration (and apparently their frequency), and we are losing plant and animal species at a crushing rate the planet hasn’t seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs tens of millions of years ago.

We are right up against it. What is happening is heartbreaking, and the task before us daunting. At the same time, our faith tells us that we are not alone with this work, that God is with us, that all of creation is waiting with “eager longing” for us to get about the business of beating back the worst of climate change, and that Yes We Can.

A couple of weeks ago, two dozen religious leaders – including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Baha’is to name just a few – met here at Earth Ministry to brainstorm the future of Washington Interfaith Power & Light, our newest program.

It became clear right away that climate change is not just an environmental crisis, but also a human justice crisis – because it’s the poor and most vulnerable who are already being hit first and the hardest by climate change. It also became clear right away that all of our religious traditions have something important to say about these things, and that the path we are on right now is not the path that God, the Creator, the Ground of our Being, hopes for us.

At the same time, we were struck by a few other things. First, that people of faith lifting up an impatient, unified voice for change – for new climate and energy policies that protect the planet and our neighbors – can become an irresistible force for change that finally tips the balance in the right direction. Second, that the air is pregnant with the possibility of healthy change and an awareness that it’s overdue. Third, that interfaith climate and energy work in Washington is something we feel urgently called to through our traditions. And fourth, and despite the challenges, that Yes We Can.

Does any of this make your heart beat faster? Is this work you could get excited about? It’s going to take all of us. People of faith in Washington are setting out now to build a bigger table where there’s plenty of room and all are welcome. And we believe that we won’t ever be alone, and that Yes We Can.

The Boldometer

by Jessie Dye

A “Boldometer” (pronounced bowl-dahm-uh-ter) is an imaginary tool for measuring boldness. It tells us if we are brave and wise and strong enough for our time. We want to be on the green end of the boldometer, not the wimpy red end (timidity alert!).

It’s time for bold climate legislation. If our national and state congresses pass muscular and courageous laws in the session ahead, we can prevent the worst effects of climate change. If not, we solidify policies and infrastructure that lock us into the carbon and toxic economy that has brought so much distress to so many species and ecosystems. In short, we’re toast if America doesn’t score high on the boldometer in the coming year.

Ideas and value systems arc through history and time; most have a natural life cycle with a beginning, middle, and end. This applies to economic theory, civil liberties, scientific thought. What does not change over time is the Green Rule. Every religion teaches some version of this and every denomination states it: do unto the Earth as you would have it do unto you. If we stand in protection of Creation it responds with abundance and richness; if we abuse God’s Earth our species will be repaid in kind.

It’s time to get out the Boldometer and pass climate legislation that provides climate protection, mass transit and good land-use planning, energy efficiency, legislation that puts the kibosh on carbon fuels and makes polluters pay. It’s time for green jobs. It’s time to make the Green Rule into law and policy.

Stay tuned for Earth Ministry’s recommendations for bold legislation on behalf of All Creation!

Swimming Against the Current

By Mikaila Gawryn
Earth Ministry Outreach Associate

As I turned on the computer this morning the first thing I saw on my to do list was SUSHI. You might be surprised at how large a role sushi plays in my vocation. The truth is, I love sushi, and that love tends to creep into most areas of my life.

My sushi beginnings were humble. After a long day in the halls of my high school I would convince my friends to drive to the local QFC so that I could pick stale rolls of cucumber, rice and fish out of tiny plastic boxes. Surprisingly they were not as taken with this delicacy as I was. Looking back I assume I have either a stomach of steel or unimaginable good luck for having avoided food poisoning for so long.

I'll be honest, I've always had a small amount of indigestion, and as I increased the quality of my sushi purchases I realized it wasn't due to the gray lumps of wasabi from QFC. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had a feeling that sushi wasn't a particularly neutral practice, environmentally speaking.

The first hint came in my sophomore year of college when I read about the clearing of coastal mangrove swamps in the tropics for shrimp farms. Mangrove forests house aquatic and terrestrial life in the zone between fresh and salt water. Human populations have co-existed with the mangrove swamps and reaped the benefits of diversity in these lively ecosystems. The Monterey Bay Aquarium states that over 3.7 million acres of the swamps have been converted to shrimp farms, an industry that requires farmers to move on after an area has been used because of the pollution left. This leaves a destroyed ecosystem and a transient population dependent on being able to find more untouched land.

Each time I sat down to enjoy a tuna role I realized that very fish had been swimming somewhere until relatively recently. I didn't know how healthy its population was, what continents it swam near, or how many flights it had taken to arrive on my dinner plate. I was disgusted. Sushi in Japanese tradition arose from an appreciation for simplicity and subtlety and yet it was overwrought by conflict and injustice.

No one seemed to know how to help. The seafood industry's transport maps look like bird's nests and sustainable harvesting methods are continually undermined by the fact that fishing laws have been created independently by countries. Everyone has a right to fish the oceans dry as they are not under the jurisdiction of any one governing body.

Although I felt alone in my seafood confusion thankfully far greater powers were at work creating change. Enter Seafood Watch. In 1999 The Monterey Bay Aquarium created a list of sustainable seafood for concerned visitors. From there an extensive program called Seafood Watch blossomed.

The Seafood Watch program provides information to "empower consumers and businesses to make choices for healthy oceans." The most recent addition to the extensive website is (drum roll please...) a Sushi Pocket Guide. The guide includes a list of best choices, good alternatives and seafood to avoid when enjoying your sushi. What is more it provides us with the information we need to be able to tell our chefs what we want. Communicating to sushi restaurants that we want sustainable seafood is one way that you and I can make a difference. Join me and swim against the current of unsustainable seafood culture.

Enjoy!

Sources: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program www.mbayaq.org

Day of Prayer for Creation Care

By Chris Olson, Outreach Coordinator

Throughout my college experience I learned about the problems facing the environment on a daily basis, but seldom heard about the faith-based call to be stewards of the environment. As I was considering my post-graduation options last winter, one of the reasons a job at Earth Ministry was so appealing to me was that it was a way to integrate the environmental education I received with the call to care for creation that I knew was an important part of my faith. And yet, I rarely heard about this synergistic connection in my college classes or faith community.

Working at Earth Ministry has already been an incredible learning experience. I have been motivated to reach out to my friends still in college who long for developing a clear connection between the role of faith communities in addressing environmental issues. A task that can seem daunting and hopeless. It is the unique aspect of the faith perspective that brings hope to such overwhelming issues and inspires youth and students to become involved in creation care efforts.

By mobilizing college students, a new energy and imagination can be brought to the work of building positive change both locally and globally. That is why I'm so excited that today is the National Day of Prayer for Creation Care! Doesn't that have a nice ring to it? Across the country, people will be joining together to lift up their prayers about environmental concerns and global issues. The brainchild of this national movment is Renewal: Students Caring for Creation. While Renewal's mission is focused on mobilizing college students to care for God's creation, that doesn't mean that the rest of us college graduates can't participate!

Please, on this national day of prayer, lift up your voice and stand in hope with many others for the beautiful creation of which we are a part.

If you would like more information about The Day of Prayer for Creation Care please visit: http://www.renewingcreation.org/

Blog 101

Since many of our blog readers may not be as familiar with how the bloggosphere works, for today's post, I'd like to offer a little tutorial on how to make the best of your blogging experience.

Right-side navigation

• Contributors - this section includes links to pictures and short profiles (where available) of all the contributors to the Earth Ministry blog. Contributors include staff members and interns.
  
• Receive Earth Ministry's Blog in Your Email Inbox! - by submitting your email address in this box, you can receive the newest blog as an email at the end of the day on which the blog was posted. This is a great feature if you don't want to keep checking the blog manually but want to keep up to date on the latest reflections at Earth Ministry!
  
• Blog Archive - I'm sure most of you know that the newest posts are at the top of the page with older posts below it in order of appearance. But what you may not know is that you can view all of our older posts, organized by date, in this section.
  
• Labels - The Earth Ministry bloggers all make painstaking efforts to label our posts with keywords so that if you can read by subject matter or author. Want to see all the blogs on the topic of climate change? Click on that keyword "climate change" and you'll see all of them in one place. Or want to read all the blogs by Beth Anderson? Click on "Beth" and there they will be. Now isn't that a great feature?!

Inside the Post

At the bottom of every blog post, there are a series of buttons. Let's get to know them now.

Comments! - The ability to post comments and interact with the thoughts and ideas of bloggers is what makes the blogosphere go round. We would love to hear more from our readers. Tell us what you like. Tell us what you think. Do our blog posts move you or cause you to reminisce? If so, let us know!

Email Post to a Friend - Ever feel so inspired by a blog post that you want to share it with your friends? All you have to do is click the envelope icon.

That concludes our tutorial, Blog 101. Please let us know if there is a topic you'd like addressed in the blog or just let us know what you think at all. Happy blog reading!

Get Outside, Rain or Shine

A couple weeks ago I started my fall courses at Seattle University’s School of Theology & Ministry. Back together after a months-long break, classmates can be heard asking one another, “What did you do this summer?”

For many of us, the answer includes activities like family picnics, hiking, swimming, outdoor festivals or concerts, and generally lots of time soaking up sun and fresh air.

The highlight of my summer was a four-day backpacking trip in the Glacier Peak Wilderness—we walked to Spider Meadow, up and over Spider Gap, down to Lyman Lakes, up and down over Cloudy, Suiattle, and Buck Creek Passes, and finally down the Buck Creek valley to the old mining town of Trinity.

You can tell from the photos that we enjoyed AMAZING weather during this trip—all sun and stunning views and not a drop of the wet stuff. In weather like that, one could hardly imagine spending time indoors.

Fast forward to the October—the beginning of the school year and the start of the rainy season in the Pacific Northwest. Not only is the weather unsettled and the sky dominated by clouds but the sun rises much later and sets much earlier, leaving little light outside standard workday hours.

Lakes no longer invite swimmers to refresh themselves in their clear waters; the mountains are hidden behind a veil of mist, warning potential hikers to think twice about venturing onto the trails.

During these rainy months I am torn between gearing up and continuing to spend time outside or taking the path of least resistance…straight to my couch.

Yesterday I suited up in raingear, packed my school books in plastic bags, and headed to class on my bike. Once I was soaked to the bone, I made peace with the weather—the rain and I were able to coexist rather nicely on the 35-minute ride.

And although it would be hard for me to speak about the rainy bike ride with the same affection I had for the sunny backpacking trip, in both circumstances I was able to connect with the natural world. That connection is my motivation to get outside, rain or shine.

Celebration of St. Francis Sermon Contest!

On Saturday, October 4th, Earth Ministry held its 16th Annual Celebration of St. Francis. This year's celebration featured a Creation-Care Sermon Contest. We received neraly 50 sermons from members in 13 states. We chose six finalists to present their sermons at our event on the Feast of St. Francis:

• Annette Andrews-Lux, Freeland, WA
• Tom Walker, Clinton, WA
• Sherry Golden, Flagstaff, AZ
• Rev. Mary Brown, North Bend, WA
• Rev. Gerry Porter, Kingston, WA
• Sister Mimi Maloney, Olympia, WA

At the Celebration we also honored four new Greening Congregations:

• First Presbyterian Church, Port Townsend, WA
• Woodland Park Presbyterian, Seattle, WA
• Wesley UMC, Yakima, WA
• Grace Episcopal, Bainbridge Island, WA

In addition, we were uplifted by creation-themed choral music provided by the choirs of Trinity UMC and Plymouth UCC. It was indeed a celebratory service!

Those gathered chose Sherry Golden as the winner in the lay category and Sister Mimi Maloney was selected as the winner in the clergy/vowed religious category. Congratulations to Sherry, Sister Mimi, and all the finalists. We were blessed and moved by all of your homilies!

A video of each sermon is posted below in the order in which they were given along with the title of the sermon and name of the contestant. Enjoy!

Lay Category

"Renewing the Earth Community" by Annette Andrews-Lux



"Renew a Right Spirit" by Tom Walker



"Keeping the Sabbath to Keep the Earth" by Sherry Golden



Clergy/Vowed Religious Category

"Staying Awake" by Rev. Mary Brown



"Abundance: Answering God's Call" by Rev. Gerald Porter



"The Care of Creation as a Moral and Ethical Imperative" by Sister Mimi Maloney



Thank you very much to all who entered the contest and congratulations to the winners!

Advocacy in Times of Change

by Jessie Dye

One voice makes a difference; one vote makes a difference; one letter to the editor or cloth bag changes everything!

Is that naïve? No, in fact recent surveys are confirming what community organizers have known for years: the confident words and visible behavior of one person or a small group of people have an influence far beyond their own sphere.

For example, in a recent note from Annette Frahm of Sage Environmental on energy conservation, she reports:

In a large-scale survey, people ranked the importance of several reasons to
conserve energy. The results, from most to least important:
1) it will help the environment;
2) it will benefit society;
3) it will save me money;
4) other people are doing it.

However, researchers found that the belief that others were conserving correlated twice as highly with reported energy saving efforts as any of the other reasons. A follow-up marketing experiment confirmed these survey findings.

This means your vote, your opinion, your choices make a big difference in influencing the direction of our country, especially during these heated national and local elections. Here are some specific ways you can use your voice for advocacy for God’s Creation:

• Vote! Especially make sure your children and grandchildren and friends are registered to vote. The deadline in the State of Washington for in-person registration is Saturday, October 18th.


• Check out the Scorecard of the League of Conservation Voters (http://www.lcv.org/scorecard) to find the record of your elected officials on the environment.


• Vote all the way down the ballot! In King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties in Washington, Proposition One is a great bill to help reverse global warming pollution and improve our terrible traffic. But it’s at the end of the ballot! Vote all the way “down ballot” and vote YES on Prop. One.


• Any chance you have, tell your legislators, your friends, and your colleagues that climate change is the great moral issue of our time and is your top priority for public policy. Explain that protecting Creation matters most to you in this election. Here’s one website that can give you specific tools to do this: http://www.1skywashington.org/

Your voice makes more difference than you can imagine! At Earth Ministry we see the wonderful possibilities for green jobs, clean energy investment, a healthy and secure economy, a renewed quality of life, and a return to respect for the common good. It can be done, and it can be done in time. It is your voice and your vote that will make it happen. The time is now.

(Originally written for the Episcopal Bishop’s Committee on the Environment newsletter)

The Place Where We Stand

By Mikaila Gawryn Earth Ministry Outreach Associate

Today for lunch I will eat mashed turnips. Yes, you can indeed mash turnips and they have a wonderful, spicy flavor. I am new to turnip consumption and was reminded of this last night as I pulled the thick imperial purple skin off the plump tuber. My father walked in and immediately said, "Wow, what a great turnip!" (I of course looked up radish twice in my cookbook before remembering that what I actually had was a turnip, and this is after having pulled it from the ground myself!!)

It feels like even one generation ago children grew up more familiar with their food than they do today. My father is not very interested in cooking and I was expecting to explain to my family what beautiful earthy things I had brought home that evening. Yet to my surprise he recognized the vegetable at a glance.

The soil from which I pulled this magnificent bulb is on the Clean Greens farm, run by New Hope Baptist Church. Sara Jean Green, of the Seattle Times writes that Rev. Robert Jeffrey Sr. started the farm with the mission to "bring affordable, organic produce to the poorest families in Seattle's urban core." The project had a rocky start, but after set backs they started bringing in the first harvest last Friday. The volunteer based harvest events are called Clean Greens Harvest Parties. I had the honor of bundling verdant spinach and gathering collard greens the size of prehistoric dinosaur feet.

"The best place for each is where [she] stands."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "The best place for each is where [she] stands." I believe Emerson is saying that knowing the earth we live on ought to be our personal work. Emerson quoted his life long friend Henry David Thoreau, who expanded upon this point: "I think nothing is to be hoped from you, if this bit of mould under your feet is not sweeter to you to eat than any other in this world, or in any world." Today the soil that Thoreau refers to still yields sweet things for us to eat. Both Thoreau and Emerson understood that a love of the earth directly beneath our feet should be cultivated before we head out into the larger world. What better time to learn this than as a child?

As I walked along the furrows of the Duvall farmland on Friday I felt cold rain from collard greens on my hands and heard birds speaking to one another in surrounding hedges. Clean Green Farm is organic, providing homes for birds and small snakes which keep insects and weeds at bay.

As one of the younger generation I know I lack familiarity with the earth that provides for my air, food, shelter and water. Working at the Clean Greens Farm gave me a taste of the sweetness that comes from knowing this land personally.

In my time at Earth Ministry I have had the opportunity to work on the Caring for All Creation module At the Table. This module provides liturgical, educational and logistical resources to Christian communities interested in learning about why food choices should be sustainable choices if they are rooted in faith. Churches can choose to partner with a local farm or host a sustainable community meal after they learn about food and faith in their worship service.

Through my work I've found that Washington has numerous opportunities for people to learn about this land upon which we stand. Supporting the Clean Greens farm through volunteering is one of those opportunities. What is exciting about the Clean Greens farm is that it is also an opportunity to provide healthy food for people that need it the most. This is exactly where our faith based food choices should lead us.

If your congregation is interested in learning about the connection between food and faith the expanded version of At the Table will be out by the end of this year. But in the meantime you can still be involved! Stay tuned for information about future Clean Greens Harvest Parties on our digest.

Take some time to mash some turnips and if you can, teach a child, or yourself, to recognize the goodness that this earth beneath our feet produces. Perhaps if we do this, there can be hope for us after all.

Sources:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004474432_newfarmers13m.html
http://eserver.org/thoreau/emerson1.html

Celebrating Even if We Stumble to the Finish Line

By Mikaila Gawryn
Earth Ministry Outreach Associate

Congratulations!! We crossed the finish line!! Our Three Month 300 Mile Food Challenge was successfully completed yesterday!! I must say though, my part of the completion was not as successful as I had hoped.

Okay... to be honest I practically fell across the finish line. It was hard!! Eating only local food for three months was more challenging than I could have expected, but even the times that I messed up provided opportunities for learning.

Two years ago University of Washington Professor David Domke addressed members and friends of Earth Ministry at our annual Celebration of St. Francis. I was attending as a volunteer, and I remember standing outside the sanctuary where he was speaking, straightening up brochures and snacks for the reception. From in the lobby I heard him say something that I will never forget. Professor Domke said that in the environmental community all too often "we sacrifice the good on the alter of perfection".

Having spent the last three years in an environmental studies B.A. program I know exactly what he was talking about. In my program I felt like I was practically eating, sleeping and breathing environmental topics. Pollution, extinction and degradation were all around and it was easy to fall into legalistic patterns of control when trying to cope with the impending doom I was reading about.

"All too often we sacrifice the good on the alter of perfection."

- Professor David Domke

Not surprisingly, this legalism can be accompanied by a holier-than-thou attitude, and I know because I had it! I started to believe that if I did everything right I could actually avoid being a part of the degradation of our natural world. This belief is clearly contradicted by the teachings of our faith:

Romans 3:23 says, "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God."

It is also contradicted by the realities of our world. By participating in the systems of contemporary society, we become part of the injustice they bring about.

Unfortunately, I think it is this legalistic and arrogant attitude which keeps many people from getting involved in environmental action. I consider myself a part of the environmental community and I still hate it when someone makes me feel guilty.

Perhaps the greatest contribution the Christian faith community can make to environmental work is the acknowledgment that we are a fallen people. We don't have our act together, we unavoidably participate in the unjust processes in our world that victimize our fellow human beings and God's creation.

Yet, as Professor Domke explained, the inability to be perfect does not mean we should cease striving to do good. Our Three Months 300 Miles food challenge was just that, a challenge. But it was a good experience for me. It taught me to use muscles that I haven't been aware of before. Like the muscle of intentional meal planning that is required when I try to only buy seasonal produce each week. And the scheduling habits necessary for only shopping when the farmers markets are actually open.

Even though our food challenge is over the Earth Ministry staff is still still working to support local organic food. This week we'll be heading out to help bring in the harvest with New Hope Baptist Church! We'll be participating in the Clean Greens Project with a farm located in Duvall Washington. New Hope Baptist church has been working hard all season to bring in the crops that they planted themselves in the spring. If you're interested, please join us and New Hope members for a day of working in the earth and bringing local food to local people who need it.

Clean Greens Harvest Party
Friday, October 3rd, 9AM
Meet at New Hope Baptist Church, 116 21st Ave Seattle WA 98122
or at the farm, 20121 W. Snoqualmie River Rd. NE, Duvall WA 98019
Water will be provided, but please bring food for your lunch.

I hope to see you there!
Mikaila